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The Mission of the Institute is to provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write in order to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to national defense.

Although the Great War might be regarded as the heyday of the big-gun at sea, it also saw the maturing of underwater weapons—the mine and torpedo—as well as the first signs of the future potency of air power. Between 1914 and 1918 weapons development was both rapid and complex. This heavily illustrated work details all the guns, torpedoes, mines, aerial bombs and an anti-submarine systems employed during that period and offers an in-depth explanation of the background to their evolution. The book treats the war as a transition from naval weapons which were essentially experimental at its outbreak to a state where they pointed directly to what would be used in World War II. Based largely on original research, this sophisticated book is more than a catalogue of the weapons, offering insight into some of the most important technical and operational factors influencing the war at sea.

"Naval Weapons of World War One is a very important book. It breaks new ground both in its scope and its detail. It will be the first point of reference for researchers and casual readers for years to come."

— Nautical Research Journal

“We have had to wait a long time for this ‘prequel’ to John Campbell’s classic encyclopedia Naval Weaponsof World War Two. It has been well worth the wait; Norman Friedman’s new volume is everything we would have expected of the author: comprehensive, authoritative and exhaustively researched."— Naval Books of the Year column inWarship, 2013

“…authoritative work which will serve researches for years to come…Naval Weapons of World War One is a massive and affordable encyclopedia containing a dizzying range of information in multiple levels of detail. This is more than the history of weaponry: it is also technological, industrial, corporate and naval administrative history….There is much here for the amateur and professional, for the expert and layman.”